The Heartless Bastards played an smooth, yet intense show at Irving Plaza on Saturday with support from the Futurebirds and Dana Falconberry. Dana Falconberry and her band, hailing from Austin, Texas, opened the show with a unique pop-folk set with songs that took pauses for female acapella verses. Jesse Ebaugh from the Heartless Bastards joined the band for a few songs on the Steel Guitar. While not as hard-hitting as the headliner and second act, her set was definitely worth watching.
The next act was the Futurebirds, a 6 piece country-rock band from Athens, Georgia. They entered the stage fully dressed in Halloween costumes and appeared very excited to be there. Their set started out pretty routine and then completely exploded towards the as they hit the crowd with tons of wailing guitar riffs and tapped into a type of energy that seemed to pack the room. Frontman Carter King ended the set on the ground with some sweet guitar distortion. The crowd was now ready for Heartless Bastards.
The Heartless Bastards played a set that encompassed all of their albums, including their first and best titled All This Time, as well as a few songs from their most recent, early 2012 release Arrow. This was the first time the band played at Irving Plaza and fans did not walk out disappointed. This Cincinnati, Ohio based garage-rock band is often compared to The Black Keys in style. In fact, the band was signed to Fat Possum Records, The Black Keys record company at the time, after Patrick Carney took interest in a demo sent to him by lead vocalist Erika Wennerstrom. The band’s set was well received and the crowd welcomed the two-song encore.